“Studying these buttes up close has given us a better understanding of ancient sand dunes that formed and were buried, chemically changed by groundwater, exhumed and eroded to form the landscape that we see today.”

Curiosity is now set leave behind Murray Buttes to make its way higher up Mount Sharp.

NASA geologists believe the ancient mountain formed billions of year ago from sediment accumulated in lakes.

The rover landed near Mount Sharp in 2012, reaching the base by 2014, where it found evidence the lakes would’ve once offered favourable conditions for microbes if the planet had ever hosted life.

As the rover continues its journey up the mountain, scientists hope it will throw light on how once habitable environment transitioned into the dry, dusty desert visible today.

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Curiosity captures sloping hillside on Mount Sharp

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An outcrop with fine layers of rock

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The sand which formed these finely layered rocks were deposited by wind long ago as dunes migrated

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A hillside outcrop with sandstone layers which scientists call crossbedding